Independent Study

During the final four weeks of the program, you can choose to use your new language and cultural skills and the academic knowledge you have acquired to complete an Independent Study Project (ISP) on a topic of interest to you. The ISP is most often conducted in Amsterdam, but another approved location is possible as long as it is relevant to the project.

Sample topics:

Negotiating religion and homosexuality

Interracial relationships in the Dutch postcolonial context

Intergenerational dating strategies

Black feminist activism in the Netherlands

Dating strategies of older lesbian women in the Netherlands

Multicultural approaches to sex education

Female body images in media and their effects on women’s self-perception

SIT internships are hands on and reflective. In addition to completing the internship, you will submit a paper processing your learning experience on the job and analyzing an issue important to the organization you worked with, and/or you will design a socially responsible solution to a problem identified by the organization.

Sample internship sites:

Preparing exhibitions and doing research at the International Gay and Lesbian Archive and Information Center

Promoting sexual education for all at international platform Love Matters

Researching and writing Wikipedia entries about female role models, artists, and scientists and about feminist organizations or gender equality at Atria Knowledge Institute for Emancipation and Women’s History

Key Topics of Study

Sexual politics in a multicultural society

Homonationalism in the Netherlands

Sex and gender education: policies and methods in the Netherlands

Feminist and sex-positive activism in the Netherlands

Gender roles and women’s movements in Morocco

Trans* issues, human rights, and health

Gendered and racialized aspects of labor migration in a global and neo-liberal context

How identity is affected by gender, sexuality, race, religion, and class, both as experienced and as perceived

Money Matters

Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor.

SIT tuition and room and board fees include the following:

All educational costs, including educational excursions

All accommodations and meals for the full program duration

Transportation to and from the airport, and on all educational excursions

Health and accident insurance

Scholarships:

SIT awards nearly $1.6 million in scholarships and grants annually.

All scholarships and grants are need-based.

Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.

The SIT Pell Grant Match provides matching grants to all students receiving Federal Pell Grant funding when it is applied to an SIT Study Abroad semester program.

Contact the financial aid and/or study abroad office(s) at your college or university to learn if your school’s scholarships and grants and federal and state aid programs can be applied to an SIT Study Abroad program.